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Date: 8/2/2008

As of today, the tournament is almost over, with the most exciting matches still to come. On Saturday, some of the teams already had their last matches, competing for places 13 to 19. In the semi-finals, which were the first matches to be played in the new playing hall "Boris Trajkowski" during this Championships Denmark beat Korea with 32:28 (16:14) and in the second semi-final Germany overcame Spain with 22:28 (12:12).


AUS-KAZ 22 : 32 (13:15)
Newcomers Kazakhstan left Australia at the bottom of the ranking after beating them in the match for the 19th place at the Championship.

Australia was competitive for most of the match so the final result did not properly reflect the situation seen on the court. Australia took an early 4:1 lead and Kazakhstan leveled the score for the first time only in the 16th minute (15:15).

Both teams took the the lead a few times in the next 30 minutes and then the Australian players simply lost their breath. The better prepared Kazakhstan team utilized the situation, finally taking an easy victory with a huge margin.


MKD-TPE 25 : 26 (15:12)
Chinese Taipei took the 17th place at the Championship causing more disappointment for the host team. It was a bitter end for the Macedonian team who finished only better than Kazakhstan and Australia.

Macedonia had lots of difficulties with the fast opponent's players and also with efficiency on the other side, missing three penalties in the first half. The host team had a lead for the most of the first half, even with four goals three minutes before the break, after scoring five times in a row.

Chinese Taipei opened the second half with four goals in a row taking a 16:15 lead after five minutes but in the next 20 minutes no team managed to build a lead with more than one goal. Macedonia finally made it with four minutes left (24:22), but with two suspended players had problems to keep it. Chinese Taipei scored three times in a row and sealed the victory with Yu-Ting's goal with 15 seconds remaining.

Chinese Taipei lost two players in the second half due to red cards.


SLO-ALG 33 : 27 (17:12)
Slovenia finished at the 15th place after beating Algeria with 33:27 in a less exciting match in which both teams playing with only a little motivation.

The Goalkeepers stood out in the first 15 minutes of the match and both teams managed to score only four times each during that period. Slovenia made a step forward taking three goals lead in the 20th minute and in the next 15 minutes they managed to increase it to nine goals (21:12).

The north african team came close to incredible comeback with eight minutes remaining, but it never happened after they scored only three times until the end of the match. Slovenia's defense was not so tough in the second half allowing Algeria to cut the deficit to only two goals in the 52nd minute, but thanks to few fastbreaks in the finish, Slovenia's victory never came under threat.


ISL-JPN 27 : 26 (15:12)
Iceland finished as thirteenth of the tournament after a tight victory over Japan. In a dynamic and interesting match the players from Iceland were more focused and thereby secured their victory.

Iceland took control of the result early. After eight minutes of play they had a five goals advantage (6:1). Both teams played fast and showed nice performance during next period of the first half. Japan manage to reduce Iceland's advantage to three goals and had two players more on the court, but Iceland played a good defense with four players and didn't allow the Japanese team to come close. Shortly after, Iceland rose their advantage to 4 goals (13:9), and without many problems kept it until the end of the first half.

The second half wasn't at the same level as the first. Both teams made more technical mistakes but nothing significant wasn't changed about the difference in the result.
But in the last minute Japan had chance to equalize after Iceland made some mistake. However, the last shot at the goal finished only besides the goal and Iceland celebrated a well deserved victory.

DEN-KOR 32 : 28 (16:14)
The team of Denmark is the first finalist of the tournament, after they beat Korea in the first semifinal with 32:28. The Scandinavians deserved to go to the finals, because they were the better team, they were faster and stronger during all the match, their main weapon were their super fast breaks.

The first ten minutes of the game were decisive because the Danish players scored six and receive only one goal. Goalkeeper Sandra Toft made six saves which was enough for Denmark to make a big difference. But, Korea manage to improve their performance and they „came back in the game" in the last five minutes of the first part, when they scored four goals in a row.

The first ten minutes of the second half were totally the same like in the first half. Denmark again manage to score five goals in a row and to take the lead with 23:16. After that, the Danish players start playing slowly, with long attacks and that kind of tactics brought them place in the finals.

The best Danish player was their left wing Mie Augustesen with 10 goals from 13 shots. Also, the goalkeeper Toft had 17 saves.


ESP - GER 22:28 (12:12)
Germany manage to win the second semifinal against Spain with 28:22 and to took a place in the finals, where they will play against Denmark. This will be their second match of this World Championship, because three days ago, in the Main round, Denmark won by one goal difference (25:24).
The decisive moment of the match was the middle of the second half, when Germany made a six goal series and took a huge advantage of 25:19. Everything after was just a routine for the Germans who didn't allow any surprise in the last ten minutes.
The best German players on this match was left wing Elisabeth Garcia Almendaris. She scored eight goals from 11 shots.
In the match for third place Spain will play against Korea, the game which also will also be replay from their duel in the Main round.